What's The Most Difficult Album You've Ever Listened To?

Irish Aris

I absolutely love Bjork, so listening to her Drawing Restraint 9 album (the soundtrack to her partner's Matthew Barney film) was a real ordeal. . .

delbertgrady

I remember actually feeling unwell while listening to Tilt by Scott Walker, his (generally) highly-praised 1995 album. I expected it to be "difficult", but I could not persevere with it. Also, Zero Tolerance for Silence by Pat Metheny is just insufferable noise. An otherwise accomplished guitarist, the album is forty seemingly endless minutes of improvised racket. A serious blot on his discography.

Dark Artist

'In a Flesh Aquarium' by Unexpect. I've had this album for a while and some songs still haven't grown on me but I find it extremely rewarding. They're an avante-garde band with influences ranging from classical, gypsy, metal, jazz, electro... basically everything, and that's not an overstatement. Their music is like an acid trip, totally chaotic but really rewarding once you start to unravel it.

briany

Trout Mask Replica is still an assault on the senses. Written by Beefheart, allegedly, almost entirely in one 8 hour marathon session at his piano which he wasn't trained on and then painstakingly put together by his band from what was transcribed at that session. It might sound like a group of people free improv-ing together but that was rehearsed! :O

GLaDOS

nyarlothothep wrote: »

Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven by Godspeed you Black Emperor would be up there, it begins with a long intro of ambient sounds, I think I only listened to it all the way through once, aeons ago.

Takes a bit to get into but I'd rate it as one of my favourite albums now.

rcaz

briany wrote: »

Trout Mask Replica is still an assault on the senses. Written by Beefheart, allegedly, almost entirely in one 8 hour marathon session at his piano which he wasn't trained on and then painstakingly put together by his band from what was transcribed at that session. It might sound like a group of people free improv-ing together but that was rehearsed! :O

Great stuff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYdjQCrO_xM

mosstin

delbertgrady wrote: »

I remember actually feeling unwell while listening to Tilt by Scott Walker, his (generally) highly-praised 1995 album. I expected it to be "difficult", but I could not persevere with it. Also, Zero Tolerance for Silence by Pat Metheny is just insufferable noise. An otherwise accomplished guitarist, the album is forty seemingly endless minutes of improvised racket. A serious blot on his discography.

'Tilt' is positively Stock, Aitken and Watermanesque compared to 'The Drift'.

Cosmicfox

Arcade fire's first two albums. I liked intervention and was expecting more songs along the same vein.

Took me over a year to actually get into them and they'd be my favourites now.

magma69

John Coltrane's Ascension.

Free jazz in general. Find it horrible to listen to.

rcaz

magma69 wrote: »

John Coltrane's Ascension.

Free jazz in general. Find it horrible to listen to.

But it's all ****ing CLASS!!

magma69

rcaz wrote: »

But it's all ****ing CLASS!!

I didn't realise I was talking to the definitive judge of what's good and bad music. I'll get back in my box.

Free jazz is all ****ing class. The great rcaz says so.

rcaz

magma69 wrote: »

I didn't realise I was talking to the definitive judge of what's good and bad music. I'll get back in my box.

Free jazz is all ****ing class. The great rcaz says so.

Ah jaysus, are we taking everything personally now?

For me, free jazz is the most exciting music there is. It's just people, in the moment, exploring. It's not about how it sounds, or about listening to each part, it's about how it feels and hearing the whole thing as one. It's a big block of music that will never, ever happen that way again... I spent about two years approaching it the wrong way and never 'getting' it, then I realised what I was doing wrong.

But since we're taking everything personally, yes I am the definitive judge of what is good and bad music. My opinions are correct.

markesmith

Metal Box was a tough one to get into...also Mark Hollis' first solo record. But I love them both now.

mosstin

It hasn't actually been released yet but based on the snippets I've heard, Scott Walker's latest addition to his pop collection 'Bish Bosch' promises to be, ahem, challenging.

lordgoat

rcaz wrote: »

Ah jaysus, are we taking everything personally now?

For me, free jazz is the most exciting music there is. It's just people, in the moment, exploring. It's not about how it sounds, or about listening to each part, it's about how it feels and hearing the whole thing as one. It's a big block of music that will never, ever happen that way again... I spent about two years approaching it the wrong way and never 'getting' it, then I realised what I was doing wrong.

But since we're taking everything personally, yes I am the definitive judge of what is good and bad music. My opinions are correct.

dude, we normally agree but i hate jazz. I just find it annoying. It's the most annoying part of homeland. I mute the intro every episode.

i know i know... philistine!

kunst nugget

lordgoat wrote: »

dude, we normally agree but i hate jazz. I just find it annoying. It's the most annoying part of homeland. I mute the intro every episode.

i know i know... philistine!

Tbf, that whole title sequence is utter gack.

Temaz

I despise jazz.

rcaz

I won't argue... I'll just say try this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNbD1JIH344

Maybe not for everyone, but if you like hearing musicians ****ing going for it, you might find something you like in here.

Lordgoat, you're into Radiohead, stuff like the horns in The National Anthem don't do anything for you?

karaokeman

rcaz wrote: »

the horns in The National Anthem

Now that you mention it, I've heard a lot of people say Kid A is a difficult album to listen to.

I used to dislike Radiohead before I heard that album as I was approaching them the wrong way back then, but my expectations for the sound of Kid A were bang on and now its my favourite album of theirs and The National Anthem is my favourite track.

Mental Mickey

Tool - 10,000 Days. Boring, proggy s***e.

SilverScreen

Mental Mickey wrote: »

Tool - 10,000 Days. Boring, proggy s***e.

Not a band I really listen to anymore and it's certainly not their best album, but progressive rock can be damn good when done right.

Mental Mickey

Zero1986 wrote: »

Not a band I really listen to anymore and it's certainly not their best album, but progressive rock can be damn good when done right.

Aye. That album was awful though.

Rothko

karaokeman wrote: »

Now that you mention it, I've heard a lot of people say Kid A is a difficult album to listen to.

I used to dislike Radiohead before I heard that album as I was approaching them the wrong way back then, but my expectations for the sound of Kid A were bang on and now its my favourite album of theirs and The National Anthem is my favourite track.

Yeah, I found Kid A difficult at first too. It was like nothing else that I had listened to before. Although, I did love The National Anthem and How To Disappear Completely straight away.

SilverScreen

Mental Mickey wrote: »

Aye. That album was awful though.

It wasn't the worst but it wasn't that great either. I still throw on Lateralus once in a blue moon though.

RikkFlair

The National Anthem is probably my favourite Radiohead song too, but its more for the bass riff than the horns. Such a simple repetitive groove, hugely influenced by the German band Can, who I got into as a result.

And speaking of difficult listening, check out the tracks Peking O and Augm from Cans Tago Mago album. Hard to listen to, but compelling at the same time.

SilverScreen

RikkFlair wrote: »

And speaking of difficult listening, check out the tracks Peking O and Augm from Cans Tago Mago album. Hard to listen to, but compelling at the same time.

I love that album, it's one of the very few double albums I can actually put up with. I love the crazy vocals on Peking O, f&cking nuts.

RikkFlair

Zero1986 wrote: »

I love that album, it's one of the very few double albums I can actually put up with. I love the crazy vocals on Peking O, f&cking nuts.

I think if I was to hear that track on its own, having never heard of Can, I'd probably say "thats rubbish", but when you hear it in the context of the whole album, its not so bad. Just pure avant garde music, fits well with the abstract cover art too.

I used to think some of Pink Floyds stuff was mental once, then I heard Can :pac:

Greenmachine

The CD of the karoke night of which I never speak about.

Captain Graphite

I have to echo the OP and go with 'Trout Mask Replica'. I don't know how many times I've listened to it at this stage and still don't get it fully.....but I'm past caring. It's still an amazing piece of work!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIKZNDJQe44

I'm fully willing to admit that I desperately need to broaden my horizons and listen to some more "difficult" music. This thread will provide a good starting point.

rcaz

RikkFlair wrote: »

The National Anthem is probably my favourite Radiohead song too, but its more for the bass riff than the horns. Such a simple repetitive groove, hugely influenced by the German band Can, who I got into as a result.

And speaking of difficult listening, check out the tracks Peking O and Augm from Cans Tago Mago album. Hard to listen to, but compelling at the same time.

I never 'got' Halleluwah.

Ege Bamyasi is my favourite CAN album, most accessible I've heard too.